Metallic railway-tie



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

D"... I .T S Y M A A W m A R R m .L m m E M PatentedSept. 15, 1896.

WITNESSES:

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 S. P. ADAMS., METALLIC RAILWAY TIE.

No. 567,632. Patented Sept. 15, 1896.

WITNESSES; l/VVE/VTOI? (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 13.

S. P. ADAMS. METALLIC RAILWAY TIE.

No. 567,632 I Patented Sept. 15, 1896.

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NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL F. A DAMS, OF BROOKLYN, NEIV YORK.

M ETALLIC RAILWAY-TIE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 567,632, datedSeptember 15, 1896. Application filed Januaryt, 1896. SerialNo. 574,247.(Nomad) To all whom Lb may con-car..-

Be it known that I, SAMUEL F. ADAMS, a citizen of the United States anda resident of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Metallic Railway-Ties, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to construct a metallic railway-tiewhich will be thoroughly elastic and at the same time can be heldrigidly in place, which will be cheap in construction, easily placed inposition or removed, and will not require bolts or nuts to hold the railrigidly to the tie; and it consists of a rectangular piece of sheetsteel or other suitable metal provided with longitudinal corrugationsover the entire body, and in having the two sides bent downwardly atright angles and the edges inturned to form a base. Near the ends, wherethe rails'rest on the tie, transverse channels are pressed in thecorrugations, having slight upward curves so as to form aflat restingplace, and on each side of this transverse channel are two slottedopenings in line with each other, adapted to receive therein abell-crank lever, so as to hold the rail securely, and insulating-stripsin the channel beneath the rail and between the rail-flange and lever,all of which will now be set forth in detail.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a general top view of myimproved railwaytie with the rails secured thereto; Fig. 2,

' side view of the tie, show ng end view of the rails; Fig. 3, enlargedtop view of one end of myimproved tie; Fig. 4:, side view of same,partly in section, showing end view of rail and manner of securing samein position; Fig. 5, end view of tie, showing side View of rail andconstruction of fastening device on the bell-crank lever; Fig. 6, endview showing modified form of bending the tie; Fig. 7, inturned form ofbase, showing its adaptability for being attached to a rigid base,bridge, viaduct, or like structure; Fig.8, modified form of the uppersurface of the tie Fig. 9 showing manner of turning the base outwardlyfor certain uses; Fig. 10, modification of the outwardly-bent base; Fig.11, view of the blank from which the tie is made, showing the cut-outportions, the openings for the fastenings, and rivet-holes; Fig. 12,

same corrugated preparatory to bending into shape; Fig. 13,cross-section of rail and fasteners, showing the construction of theinsulating'strips; Fig. 14, plan view of modified form ofsecuring-lever, and Fig. 15, cross-section of rail and side view offastening-lever.

In constructing my invention I do not confine myself to the use of sheetmetal, as it is obvious that any metal or material best adapted may beemployed, but as steel appears to be the best known material at thistime I shall refer to its use in this connection. Any suitable thicknessof metal may be employed, and as its use is dependent on the class andcharacter of work, I do not limit myself to thickness, but it may bewell to say that for all railway work where ballast is required, orwhere the ties are placed under ground, the metal can bemuch thinnerthan where the tie is attached to a frame, bridge, viaduct, or otherrigid structure, because in the former case a large portion of theweight of the tracks will be sustained by the top or upper wall of thetie and only a comparatively small portion by the sides and the inturned base of the tie. Ilence thickness is not so essential.

I will first describe the tie designed for surface roads (shown in endview of Fig. 5) as an illustration, the form in cross-section.

The entire tie is constructed of one piece of sheet metal A, rectangularin shape, as shown in Fig. 11, into which. I punch the eightlongitudinal openings 13 O, of the size best adapted for the purpose,these openings being on opposite sides of the location of the rail, andare designed to receive the fastening-lever. Centrally the sheet orblank is cut away, as shown at D D, for the purpose of lightening thetie-body, and also to enable the workingmen to readily pack the interiorwith ballast when the tie is put down, or to remove the ballast when itis desired to remove the tie. The tie is then provided with longitudinalcorrugations, as shown in Fig. 12, and afterward the sides E are bentdown at right angles to the main body and the edges F inturned, asshown. The tie thus grooved constitutes a body which is light, possessesimmense strength, and has the quality of elasticity, which is anecessary element in an article for this purpose. I11 order now toprepare it for the rails, I press a Hat transverse channel or way Gacross each end, and as it is desirable both to provide a cushion and aninsulation for the rail, I place a strip II, of vulcanized fiber orother suitable material, in this channel and mount the rail I thereon.The rail-fastening is one of the most important elements in work of thischaracter, for the reason that bolts and nuts are impracticable, and thefastener as a whole should be so made that it will not deteriorate bycontact with the earth, and it should be capable at all times of readyand speedy removal without destroying the parts. In order to accomplishthis, I construct a lever J with an upturned, right-angled limb at eachend. The forward limb K, which projects upwardly through the slottedopening B, has a pin L projecting out on both sides at a point below theshell of the tie, where it is held in place by means of a clip M,riveted to the body of the tie. The upper end of the limb K has aforwardly-projecting dog N, which rests on the flange of the rail. Theother limb O, which projects up through the other slotted opening O, hasa slot P, into which is driven awed geshaped split key Q, the ends ofwhich are bent around the limb to hold it in position. The action ofthis lever is twofold: It not only clamps the rail tightly to its seat,but it serves to hold the rail from lateral displacement. As the flangeof the rail rests against the limb K, and as the key Q is on the upperside of the tie, it can be readily reached by the trackman and tightenedup when required. At the same time the body of the lever itself is belowthe tie, and therefore not in the way to form an obstruction. It mayalso be observed that as both limbs K 0 pass through the slottedopenings they form a more rigid bearing for the lateral movement of therail than would be the case if only a single limb should be used.

In practice the upper surface of the tie should be slightly curved orconvexed, as shown at R, Figs. 6, 7, and 8, by the dotted lines. Theobject of this is to add as much elasticity to the body as possible.However, the corrugated structure of the body accomplishes this in agreat measure and also serves other useful purposes, particularly in thefact that the corrugated sides when placed in ballast has much betterfrictional contact than if made with plain sides, as shown in Fig. 6.Again, as is well known, structures of this character, where greatweight or stress is required, will retain their shape and affordresistance much better than if made straight or flat. I find, however,that the corrugated sides are of great advantage where the tie isemployed on rigid structures, as, for instance, bridges, viaducts, &c.,because the elasticity is imparted to the convolu-tions, and the impactof the downward blow is distributed to the base in a less destructivemanner. To that end I may construct the horizontal portion of the tieflat, as shown in Fig. 8, and

have only the sides corrugated, thus cheapening the structurematerially.

My preferred forms for rigid structures are shown in Figs. 7 and 10. Inthe former the inturned wings T are formed at an angle to the surface ofthe stringer U, and a narrow strip near the edge is made so that it willrest fiat on the stringer to receive the lag screws or bolts. In Fig. 10this wing extends outwardly, having the same detail of constructionwhere it is secured to the stringer. This construction affords not onlyan elastic area on theupper surface of the tie, but also on the sidesand base, which particularly adapt it for use on overhead railways incities where it is important to overcome the noise of passing trains.

Fig. 9 shows the base-wings turned outwardly resting solidly on thestringer.

As it is important in electrical work to insulate the rail from the tie,I show a preferred form of doing this in Fig. 13. It will be seen that Iemploy the base-strip II, of vulcanized fiber or other material, in thechannel under the rail, and insert an L-shaped insulator 1V under theend of the dog N, and over this I place a metal plate X to receive thepressure of the dog, thus making a positive insulation between the tieand rail, at least.

\Vhile it is obvious that various methods may be employed to secure therail to the tie, the preferred form, for the reasons stated, is shown inFig. 4:, but numerous modifications may be made, and one form isillustrated in Figs. 14 and 15. In this case I employ a lever Y, whichhas an enlarged head Y, through which is placed a rivet Y in order tosecure it to the tie. A nose Z projects forward from this head andoverlaps the flange of the rail. At the outer end, and within range ofthe sweep of this lever, is a series of holes Z, formed through theshell of the tie, and when the lever is turned so as to bring the nose Ztightly in contact with the flange a staple Z is placed astride thelever Y and the lower projecting ends bent, as shown in Fig. 15, to holdthe same, thus accomplishing the purpose of securing the rail to the tiewithout using bolts or nuts.

hat I claim as new is 1. As a new article of manufacture, a tie composedof sheet metal longitudinally corru gated, provided with downturnedsides also longitudinally corrugated, each side having aninturned base,atransverse,flattened channel across the upper face near each end toreceive the rails, and slotted openings in the body of the tie on eachside of said channels, substantially as set forth.

2. Arailway-tie constructed of sheet metal, its entire body beinglongitudinally corrugated, the sides formed by downturned portions andthe base by inturned wings, the upper surface having depressed andflattened transverse channels, and slotted openings on each side of saidchannels, in combination with a rail, U -shaped levers in said slottedIIO openings, engaging with the flanges of said rail, and keys forsecuring same, substantially as set forth.

3. A railway-tie composed of sheet metal, longitudinally corrugated, andhaving downturned sides and inturned base, the upper surface havingneareach end a transverse flattened channel, said channel being slightlycurved from end to end, so that the initial pressure or load will restcentrally on said tie, substantially as set forth.

4. A railway-tie having its entire body composed oflongitudinally-corrugated sheet metal with downturned sides and inturnedbase, the upper surface being slightly convex, and the base elastic,substantially as set forth.

5. A railway-tie composed of sheet metal, having on its upper side neareach end a flattened transverse channel provided with an upward curve,in combination with a rail, an insulating-strip in the transversechannel beneath the rail, and a U-shaped fastening-lever on each side ofthe rail, with insulating material interposed between the rail andlevers and clamped by said U-shaped levers, substantially as set forth.

CO I

6. A fastening for railway-ties composed of a lever with two upturnedright-angled ends one end being hinged to the tie adjacent to the railand having a dog which projects over and binds the rail-flange, and theother upturned end having a slot to receive a key, in combination with ametal tie and rail substantially as set forth.

7. The combination with a metal tie having at each end a transversechannel and a railway-rail of a rail-fastener, composed of a lever withtwo upturned right-angled ends which pass through slots in the tie, oneend being hinged to the tie adjacent to the rail, and having a dog whichprojects over and binds the rail-flange, and the other upturned endhaving a slot and a key for fastening the same, and insulating materialin said transverse channel substantially as set forth.

Signed at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, this27th day of December, A. D. 1895.

SAMUEL F. ADAMS.

\Vitnesses:

HUGH MOORE, A. J. ZERK.

